Computational origins of shape perception
Fig 3
Comparing learning across newborn animals and generic fitting models.
(a) Wood11 showed that newborn chicks develop shape perception when reared with a single object. During the training phase, the chick’s environment contained a single object. During the test phase, the chambers measured whether the chicks developed shape perception. (b) To simulate the chick study, we created virtual animal chambers and simulated the first-person visual experiences available to the chicks during the training phase. As in the chick study, the virtual chambers presented one object that rotated continuously, revealing a different color and shape on each of its two sides. (c) We trained generic fitting models (transformers) using the simulated visual experiences from the virtual chamber. (d) To test the models, we simulated the visual experiences available to the chicks during the test phase. (e) Visualization of the representation spaces of untrained versus trained fitting models. Untrained fitting models (ViT-CoT 6H shown here) organize objects based on color, whereas models trained on the visual experiences of newborn chicks learned to organize objects based on shape. Error bars denote standard error for each model across the color cells and shape cells shown in Fig 1b, c.